Fire Brigade responded to nearly 10,000 calls

The Jamaica Fire Brigade (JFB) responded to 9,973 genuine calls between January to September, according to Deputy Commissioner of Fire and Rescue Operations, Kevin Haughton.

Speaking to the media following the staging of an Open Day at the Montego Bay Fire Station in St James recently, Haughton said this represented a 59 per cent increase compared to 2022, when they responded to 6,277 calls.

"In terms of structural fires, we would've responded to a total of 905, compared to last year when we responded to 831," he stated. Haughton added that in terms of malicious calls during the same period, there was a 17.2 per cent increase over the 937 calls during the similar period last year.

He said there was a 1.3 per cent decrease in the number of motor vehicle accidents that the Brigade responded to this year. Haughton also pointed out that the JFB responded to several bush fires.

"We had a total of 1,185 in St Catherine, followed by Kingston and St Andrew, where we got a total of 704, then St Ann, which saw 631 bush fires," Haughton informed.